Michael S. Sparer, J.D., Ph.D. is a Professor and Chair in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Professor Sparer studies and writes about the politics of health care, with a particular emphasis on the health insurance and health delivery systems for low-and-middle income populations, both in the United States and globally. His current projects include a study evaluating federal and state efforts to stabilize and revitalize the nation’s public health workforce, an examination of “public option” initiatives in Washington state and elsewhere, and a book examining the impact of American federalism on the evolution and current status of the American health care system. Sparer is the former editor of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, and the author of Medicaid and the Limits of State Health Reform. Dr. Sparer teaches the course in Health Care in the US: Politics and Policy.